In China, education is a matter of the highest importance for a standard middle-class family, and which school their children enter and what they are going to learn off-campus dominate discussions between parents.
Elchole and her husband are determined to give their son every support they can, but this could drain their savings.
While China's public school system ensures that each student gets a place for free, parents are not always satisfied with the school to which their child is assigned. So they pay school selection fees to send their child to a better school. Due to growing demand, these fees can reach hundreds of thousands of yuan, putting a financial strain on families like Elchole's. The price that parents have to pay to fulfill their vision for the children has generated doubt about the wisdom of bringing another child into the world.
For Elchole's family, whose annual income is already above average in Beijing, these financial considerations are a top concern. The couple is among millions of Chinese who have moved from their hometown to first-tier cities to pursue better jobs. But making a living in these cities isn't easy, as living costs have to be met and real-estate prices are rising faster than personal incomes.
"Each year we are not left with much. We are consumed by the fear that anything bad would happen and we might not be able to afford the cost," says Elchole.
Besides these financial pressures, a breakdown of China's traditional way of life has also made couples reluctant to bring more children into the world.
Feng Yuanyuan, a young mother who gave up her career to raise her firstborn child, said she is not at all eager to get pregnant again, even though she can ensure a good-quality education for her child.
Feng and her husband own a school district house that is close to a top-notch school. "Since this would also apply to my second child if I have one, many people ask me why I'm not seizing this opportunity." In major cities like Guangzhou, where Feng lives, school district houses are hard to come by, as property prices are often linked to the school's quality in the neighborhood.
